FBI investigating 'Anonymous' for attacks against Ferguson police home computers

The FBI has launched an investigation into a series of attacks on the personal computers and online accounts of officers on the Ferguson, Missouri police department, CNN reports.

CNN is citing three law enforcement officials, who apparently wanted to remain, uh, anonymous. The officials said the cyber attacks are believed to be from the ‘Anonymous’ group, a shadowy collective of hacktivists with no clear leader.

The law officers targeted in the attacks are part of the city’s response to the ongoing demonstrations around the murder of 18-year-old Michael Brown by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on August 9.

The shooting of Brown set off a weeks-long series of demonstrations in Ferguson, which have been partly peaceful and partly violent.

Anonymous launched a massive DoS attack on Ferguson’s city servers last Thursday, which caused the servers to crash and forced cops to use text messages to communicate.

The group also went after the cops themselves, hacking city servers for personal information. Anonymous hackers posted information about St. Louis County Police Chief Belmar’s wife and his house on Instigram, calling for people to go and do them harm, reports said.

With the attacks now focused on personal computers, Anonymous is further zeroing in on the personal lives of officers it believes were involved in the city’s reaction to demonstrators.